THE thumbs-up has been given to new measures designed to tackle the blight of abandoned cars on Mid Cheshire's streets.

Transport Secretary Stephen Byers has announced a nationwide clampdown on the problem, which is a growing menace in Mid Cheshire, having increased every year for the past three years.

'Dumped cars are an increasing eyesore on our streets and a real danger to children, who are attracted to them as playgrounds,' said Mr Byers 'They are also a target for local arsonists. Our proposals aim to get dumped cars off the streets quickly.'

Local councils have been given increased powers to deal with the problem and vehicle registration procedures will be tightened to make it easier to prosecute people who dump cars.

During the financial year which ended in March this year 718 vehicles were reported abandoned in Vale Royal and a further 495 have been reported in the past six months.

'We have had increases in the number of abandoned cars every year for the last three years,' said Vale Royal's waste and strategy development manger, Neil Wicks.

'We have to investigate every case that is reported to us although that doesn't mean we have to remove every vehicle as owners will quite often remove the them once we have started to follow a case up.

'But the situation is getting worse and obviously the new regulations will help us to tackle the problem.'

The problem has become so worrying that Cheshire Fire Service has arranged a seminar on the subject at its Winsford headquarters next month.

'If a car is dumped then it becomes vandalised and invariably set on fire,'said Chief Fire Officer Steve McGuirk.

'This is extremely dangerous for those people who who light the fires and our firefighters who have to put them out.'

When dumped vehicles are collected by the borough councils, they are taken to Cheshire County Council for disposal.

During the 2000-01 financial year, county council disposed of 495 abandoned cars, compared with 346 in 1999-00 and 204 in 1998-99.

'We recognise the situation as a growing problem throughout Cheshire, as does the Government,' said a county council spokesman.